LONDON – In a victory for the concept album, Britain’s High Court on Thursday ordered record company EMI Group Ltd. to stop selling downloads of Pink Floyd tracks individually rather than as part of the band’s original records.

The prog-rock group sued the music label, saying its contract prohibited selling the tracks “unbundled” from their original album setting.

Pink Floyd lawyer Robert Howe said the band was known for producing “seamless” pieces of music on albums like “Dark Side of the Moon,” “The Division Bell” and “The Wall,” and wanted to retain artistic control.

EMI claimed the clause in the band’s contract — negotiated a decade ago, before the advent of iTunes and other online retailers — applied only to physical albums, not Internet sales.

Judge Andrew Morritt backed the band, saying the contract protected “the artistic integrity of the albums.”

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LONDON (Reuters) –
British rock band Pink Floyd on Thursday won a court battle with EMI in a ruling that prevents the record company from selling single downloads on the internet from the group’s concept albums.

The outcome of the other element of the legal tussle in London’s High Court — concerning the level of royalties paid to the band by the label — was unclear, as that part of the judgment was held in secret, the Press Association reported.

The ruling is the latest blow to EMI, the smallest of the four major record companies which is seeking new funds to avoid breaching debt covenants.

Pink Floyd signed with the label over 40 years ago and its back catalog has been outsold only by that of the Beatles.

The band, whose albums include “The Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall,” was challenging EMI’s ability to “unbundle” their albums and sell individual tracks online.

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DUBAI (Reuters) –
Top global media owners are gathering in Abu Dhabi this week for a summit that marks a new stage in the emirate’s ambitions as a cultural hub and in the eagerness of recession-hit media to explore new growth markets.

News Corp Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch, one of the most active foreign media investors in the region to date, will open the inaugural Abu Dhabi Media Summit later on Tuesday. Google’s

CEO Eric Schmidt will also make an appearance.

The line-up of speakers shows Abu Dhabi’s determination to position itself at the center of what it hopes will be a rapid growth phase in the underdeveloped Middle Eastern media market, after a pause for breath when the Dubai debt crisis hit.

Management consultancy A.T. Kearney expects growth in media revenues in the pan-Arab region to slow to 12-15 percent from the roughly 19 percent annual growth of the last few years, but still far faster than the 3-4 percent it has observed in Europe and the United States.

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